While winter still has its grips on the Pine Tree State, several professional baseball players and managers with Maine ties are at training camps in Florida and Arizona preparing for the season.

One is former Bangor East Side Little League All-Star and Zone 1 American Legion Most Valuable Player Josh Pressley, who played Legion ball for the Bangor Comrades.

The 20-year-old Pressley, in his fourth pro season, was invited to attend the Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ major league camp and received a dozen at-bats in exhibition games before being sent down to the minor league camp in St. Petersburg, Fla.

First baseman-designated hitter Pressley hit .303 with 44 doubles, six homers and 60 runs batted in for the Charleston (S.C.) Riverdogs of the South Atlantic (Class A) League last season and will start the season with the Orlando (Fla.) Rays of the AA Southern League this season.

Pressley said being in major league camp was a “great experience.

“It was a great way to learn the ropes and to get to know everyone. It’s something I’ll always remember. It’s a good start to the season,” said Pressley. “I worked a lot with [former Red Sox All-Star] Wade Boggs. I learned some new stuff from him and, at the end, I felt real comfortable at the plate. He was one of the greatest hitters in baseball so I picked his brain.”

Boggs is the hitting instructor for the Devil Rays.

Pressley said Boggs taught him to generate a little more movement in his hands and how to “get a little more lift on the ball.”

The 6-foot-6, 245-pound Pressley feels AA will “definitely be a challenge.

“I just want to go out, put up another solid year and get better every day,” said Pressley, who was the Zone 1 MVP in 1996.

“I’m sure they’d like to see me hit more homers but they keep telling me the home runs will come when I’m older,” said Pressley. “They told me to keep hitting for average and keep hitting doubles and everything else will take care of itself.”

Pressley was Tampa Bay’s first pick in the 1998 draft, although it was in the fourth round because they didn’t have any picks in the first three rounds. He said he misses pitching “every once in a while.

“But I like playing every day. I don’t like sitting around. I’d still like to do it a little bit,” said Pressley, who was 6-0 with a 1.03 earned run average in 1996.

He didn’t get a chance to face his Bangor Legion teammate Matt Kinney, who is with the Minnesota Twins, because he got sent down right before the Devil Rays played the Twins.

Merrill back managing in minors

Carl “Stump” Merrill is back managing in the minor leagues, the Eastern League’s AA Norwich (Conn.) Navigators, after spending a couple of years as an assistant general manager /jack-of-all trades for the New York Yankees.

“I didn’t ask for this. For whatever reason, they needed somebody [to manage] and thought I could do the best job. It’s going to be fun. It’s good to get back on the field,” said the 57-year-old former University of Maine football-baseball star and assistant coach.

However, he said there are some mixed emotions “because there were parts of last year’s job that I enjoyed. And I got to get home some.”

Merrill, who has a home in Harpswell, said he will make three trips to Portland with the Navigators to play the Sea Dogs.

Merrill, who has six World Series rings to show for his 25 years in the Yankee organization, doesn’t anticipate any problems motivating himself.

“It isn’t tough to get the juices flowing. When it does become tough, that’s when it’s time to say goodbye. I still love the game and I’ll go to my grave [involved with baseball],” added Merrill, who managed the Yankees’ major-league ballclub in 1990 and ’91.

He expects the parent club to be right in the hunt for a fourth consecutive World Series title.

“Our pitching is superior. Nobody has four starters like we do. We could use another bat for power but if you don’t allow any runs, you aren’t going to lose,” said Merrill, who again expects the Boston Red Sox to contend with the Yankees.

“They’ve done a great job staying close to us the last couple of years,” said Merrill, who formerly coached the Old Town-Orono American Legion team and has managed at all levels for the Yanks, including the AAA Columbus Clippers three years ago.

“I think pitching is still their problem but they’re going to score runs. They’ll win games 11-10,” said Merrill.